The conditioning of verbal behavior as a function of the need for social approval.

The hypothesis tested herein is that need for approval will facilitate learning. Need for approval was measured by the M-C Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960); the learning task employed the model of verbal conditioning as used by Greenspoon (1955); the Ss were undergraduate psychology students. The results supported the hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of verbal expression of hostility.

113 Ss participated in simulated interaction in the course of which they were verbally attacked. The experiment demonstrated (with a Before-After measure) increased hostility in the Ss at the end of the experiment which was a positive function of the number of hostile statements made to the attacker after the attack. A vicarious analogue was consistent in showing a similar increase. The major findings are inconsistent with a simple catharsis hypothesis. They are more easily interpreted by viewing hostility as instrumental behavior which is unsuccessful (frustrated) and as a result increases in intensity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Need for achievement in Negro and white children.

2 studies were done comparing the scores of Negro and white children on need for achievement (n Ach), defined as concern with achieving high standards of excellence. All Ss were from rural, central North Carolina. In the 1st study, 5th and 7th graders wrote stories in response to 6 line drawings of people. In the 2nd study, 3rd-, 5th-, and 7th-grade Ss and high-school Ss wrote or told stories to 12 other line drawings. In both studies, white Ss scored significantly higher than Negro Ss, and n Ach scores increased significantly with age. In the 2nd study, Negro girls scored significantly higher than Negro boys. Negro Ss had more hostile non-n-Ach themes in the 1st study, but there was no meaningful pattern of the non-n-Ach themes in the 2nd study. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in children's verbal behavior as a function of social approval and manifest anxiety.

"This study investigated the operant conditioning of a class of verbal behavior as a function of manifest anxiety and of two types of social approval in grade school children. Anxiety levels were inferred from the Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. Social reinforcers consisted of a 'head nod' and the verbalization 'good.' Acquisition of a verbal conditioned response was obtained in both reinforcement groups with the verbal reinforcer being significantly better than physical movement. Anxiety effects were not demonstrable." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and the conditioning of verbal behavior.

Ninety hospitalized psychiatric patients were administered the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. The S's were then required to make up sentences in response to a stimulus card on which were printed a verb and one of six pronouns. E reinforced any sentence starting with I or WE by saying "good" or flashing a light. Scores on the Taylor scale showed a relationship to the amount of conditioning produced by "good." Light, as applied in this study, does not function as a reinforcer in a verbal situation. Implications for further research are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-esteem, manifest hostility, and expression of hostility.

In a previous study (see 34: 7173), it was shown that Ss with low self-esteem, as measured by the Self-Esteem Scale, and high manifest hostility, as measured by Siegel's (1956) Manifest Hostility scale (MH scale), were found to have a high hostility response tendency. In the present study, arousal of hostility was stimulated by criticizing college Ss performing tests, measured via TAT cards, and related to the measure of self-esteem. Ss with a high degree of hostility arousal showed high MH scale scores but not low scores on the Self-Esteem Scale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies of the conditioning of verbal behavior.

"Thirty-one articles reporting studies of the conditioning of verbal behavior were reviewed in terms of setting, verbal responses, reinforcement stimuli, populations, controls, length of sessions, relationships to personality variables, results, and awareness. The majority of the studies report positive results with the use of generalized conditioned reinforcers such as good and mmm-hmmm. The studies reviewed demonstrate that general principles of learning can be fruitfully applied to the experimental analysis of verbal behavior." 108-item bibliography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and verbal conditioning effects.

In line with the studies on the conditioning of verbal behavior and their reference to psychotherapy, the present study investigates the effects of Autonomy (as measured by the EPPS) upon verbal conditioning. The hypothesis was made that Autonomy would interfere with susceptibility to verbal conditioning. Ss were interviewed, being asked to talk about themselves; E reinforced (said "um-hmm" and nodded head) under 3 conditions, viz., when S made positive self-statements, negative self-statements, or reinforced randomly throughout the interview. The results indicate that by responding selectively, an interviewer can influence the verbalization of S; in this instance, reinforcement was effective in producing a significant effect on positive self-statements, but not negative ones. Meaning of results are discussed with relation to other research and an attempted formulation. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3CJ41B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioning of verbal behavior as a function of awareness, need for social approval, and motivation to receive reinforcement.

This investigation evaluated the effects of awareness, need for social approval, and motivation to receive reinforcement on verbal conditioning. 61 male college students were reinforced with "good" for constructing sentences beginning with "I" or "we." Awareness and reinforcement motivation were assessed by an intensive postconditioning interview; need for social approval was measured by the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale. Ss aware of a correct response-reinforcement contingency gave more "I" and "we" sentences than Unaware Ss, who showed no evidence of learning. Aware Ss motivated to receive reinforcement gave more "I" and "we" sentences than unmotivated Aware Ss. Contrary to expectation, need for approval was not related to Ss' reinforcement motivation or performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instructions as discriminative stimuli in verbal conditioning and awareness.

This investigation was to study the effects of preconditioning instructions and type of reinforcer on level of awareness and extent of conditioning. Prior to a conditioning task, Ss in different experimental groups were given varying degrees of information concerning the nature of the reinforcement and the reinforcement contingency. In some groups of Ss the reinforcement consisted of E saying "good" while in other experimental groups the Ss received points as reinforcement. The results indicated that the degree of conditioning and level of awareness were partially dependent upon the amount of information in the preconditioning instruction. However, in experimental groups where only partial information was given, Ss who received points conditioned better than Ss who received "good" even though there were no differences in the level of awareness. The nature of the response class was also found to be an important variable that affected the level of conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transfer of the effects of verbal conditioning.

Experimental Ss were verbally conditioned to use more future tense responses in making up sentences. Transfer effects were assessed using a 2nd sentence completion task containing certain stimulus cues present on the original task. Transfer of learning was demonstrated on the basis of a grossly defined, 2-step gradient of similarity of stimulus cues contained on the learning and transfer tasks. The variables of S's awareness and S's sex did not lead to statistically significant between-group differences. The response form (written vs. oral) also failed to demonstrate a significant effect. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early patterns of verbal memory impairment in children treated for medulloblastoma.

Children treated for medulloblastoma demonstrate a variety of cognitive deficits in addition to white matter and hippocampal neuropathology. This study examined 40 children treated for medulloblastoma as compared with 40 demographically matched controls on the California Verbal Learning Test-Children's Version (D. C. Delis, J. H. Kramer, E. Kaplan, & B. A. Ober, 1994). Results revealed significantly poorer performance on indices of word recall in the patient group as compared with the controls in addition to milder but still significantly poorer recognition memory. These findings suggest that children treated for medulloblastoma demonstrate a mixed profile of memory impairment consisting of both retrieval and recognition deficits. Implications of these findings for understanding neurobehavioral sequelae within pediatric medulloblastoma populations and for designing educational and remediation strategies to be used with these children are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Control of food intake in children by reinforcement of relevant verbal behavior.

Amounts consumed of 4 foods were recorded for each child in nursery school. 10 children were randomly selected for repeated sessions of verbal conditioning, which occurred shortly before snack time, and consisted of reinforcing the verbal behavior (food term) denoting the food selected for manipulation. The data give evidence that when positive reinforcement is associated with the verbal response denoting a food, then the consumption of that food increases. Conceptually, food can be considered a stimulus that sets up a class of responses, including verbal and eating responses. If the verbal response in that class is reinforced, hence strengthened, then the other responses of that class will be strengthened as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Catharsis and the relief of hostility.

A study of the effect of different cathartic techniques on the relief of hostility feelings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commitment to social deprivation and verbal conditioning.

Control Ss who experienced high prior deprivation of a reinforcing stimulus (approval) responded more with a reinforced response in a verbal conditioning situation than Ss less deprived. Other Ss committed themselves to undergoing postexperimental deprivation of social reinforcement after the same high prior social deprivation. A model suggested by dissonance theory predicted that such Ss who committed themselves for lower rewards would experience greater dissonance; the greater the dissonance, the more could Ss justify their decisions and reduce dissonance by reducing their motive for social reinforcement, consequently behaving in the conditioning situation as Ss who had low motivation for social reinforcement. As expected, experimental Ss in the High Dissonance condition who committed themselves for low reward ($1.00) responded less to social reinforcement, i.e., they showed a smaller increase in response strength of emission of verbal behavior than Control Ss or Low Dissonance Ss who committed themselves for high reward ($5.00). (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A laboratory adaptation of the conversational procedure for the conditioning of verbal operants.

In an attempt to adapt the conversational procedure initiated by Verplanck to the conditioning of verbal operants under laboratory conditions, an experiment was performed with each of 49 Ss who were unaware of the true nature of the experiment. While supposedly merely waiting with another S, who was in reality the investigator's assistant, their responses during their conversations with the assistant were subjected to a variety of reinforcing and deterring stimuli. The attempt was made to condition opinion, information, and question operants, with positive results being achieved for the opinion and information responses, while negative results were obtained for question operants. Under extinction conditions there was a decrease of all these operants. The results are interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that verbal operants can be conditioned in conversations which are contrived in laboratory settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct and vicarious reduction of hostility.

"Fifty Ss participated in a simulated interaction in which each was verbally attacked by a standard tape recording. Under three experimental conditions Ss (a) sat in silence after the attack, (b) heard a third person denounce the attacker, (c) were permitted to communicate back to the attacker themselves… . Results demonstrated… more residual hostility for low self-esteem Ss who were not allowed to reply to the aggressor… and very little actual aggression shown by any of the Ss who were allowed to communicate back to the aggressor after the attack." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)